By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, May 19:
Three migrant workers and a driver of the bus died on the spot and 16 others injured when a state transport bus, carrying 32 migrant workers, crashed into a truck near Arni taluka in Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district early on Tuesday morning. The injured have been shifted to a government-run hospital in Yavatmal, a police official said. Yavatmal Superintendent of Police (SP) M Rajkumar said, “The incident occurred early in the morning, at Arni taluka. The bus crashed into a truck from behind while trying to overtake. While 16 passengers have been taken to a local government hospital, first-aid was given to 12 other passengers, who sustained minor injuries.” Ironically the bus was specifically organised by labourers who were seen walking towards their native place. The labourers, belonging to Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, were walking from Solapur to their respective native places when the district authorities spotted them and organised a bus to ferry them to Maharashtra border, which is about 200 kilometres away from Yavatmal district, the SP added. The bus was travelling from Solapur towards Jharkhand. This is the latest in the series of accidents involving migrants labourers in the country as they are making their way home amid the lockdown clamped to reduce the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Before Tuesday’s accident, three migrant labourers were killed and more than 12 injured after a vehicle carrying them overturned on a highway late on Monday in Uttar Pradesh’s Mahoba.
